(1) movie review

(1) Movie Review

Title: Cyborg She
Genre: romance and comedy

Synopsis: Jiro, a dull university who lives in Tokyo, Japan in 2008. He met a beautiful girl in 2007 on his birthday. The girl came to him, playing, smiling and crying without any reasonable explanation. At the end of the journey, she says to him that she comes from a hundred in the future. ”Do you believe me?” She asks. He instantly nods affirmatively with closed eye lids. Then she disappears in the time channel. In 2008, he follows up the same routine to celebrate the birthday, secretively hoping the mysterious girl could show up again. And she does. This time, she seems embedded with super powers. She can run through bullets, speed up like a rocket, jump high to skyscraper, lift bus single-handedly; meanwhile, she smiles like an angel, learns like a baby and gives a hand anytime she sees one in need. She must have the softest heart in the world, except the fact that she does not have a heart. She claims to be a robot created by the “future” he to protect him from unspeakable dangers. It’s the guardian sent from the future, he thinks. She is just a machine, he confirms. While the connection grows stronger and stronger, the danger comes closer and closer. She pulls out her mechanical body in half to reach out for him. This is the last words from her cold lips, go away and do not look back. Easy to say, dear. He returns to the catastrophe and digs her half body out of dust and ash. Same beautiful eyes looking far away, same curvy body with connection in heart beat. Then he spends rest of his life to rebuild her, and many more. Time flies at another 60 years speed; the young girl is visiting a robot museum and astonishingly looking at the Cyborg and her inventor. She implants the memory chip from Cyborg in her own brain and feels like this is also her memory, only it’s a century old. She books a short time travel wishing to see him before the robot she does. And it was 2007…and many years after that.

Thought: The reason why I watched Cyborg She (僕の彼女はサイボーグ, Boku no Kanojo wa Cyborg) is because this is a 2008 Japanese movie written and directed by Jae-young Kwak who had previously directed the massively successful Korean romantic comedy My Sassy Girl. My sassy girl is one of my favourite movies. I like movies which included both romance and comedy.
To me, the most touching part in this movie is when she pulls out her mechanical body in half to reach out for him. This is the last words from her cold lips, go away and do not look back. Easy to say, dear. He returns to the catastrophe and digs her half body out of dust and ash. The special effect of the Cyborg looks convincing, so are the scenes from a Japanese small town in the old days as well as ‘that disaster’. Most love stories talk about love between human beings, but this movie talks about love between a man and a robot. It’s about time travel, science, robot and memory. There are some amusing parts in this movie which make me burst into laughter and at the end of it, I feel extremely touched.

Ng Qi Hui